In 1624, Álvaro de Bazán y Benavides returned to Sicily from patrolling near Ibiza and capturing there three loaded Ottoman galleons in route to Alexandria.

[1] Learning that a combined Barbary fleet, composed by galleys from the Regency of Algiers and the Ottoman Tunisian port of Bizerte, was cruising and making prey around the coasts of Italy and Spain, he decided to take action.

The Barbary fleet was overwhelmed and attempted to turn back and escape the way they came, but the Christians hunted them down, sinking seven of them and capturing the remnant six.

[5] Victory was communicated to Viceroy of Sicily, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, who ordered the booty to be divided among the crewmen.

[5] Bazán would sail again against Barbary fleets later into the month, achieving victory in the battles of Gulf of Tunis and the Dalmatian Coast.